Come on, we all know there are gun sales being made without background checks. It doesn't take too long to find someone who is willing to sell a gun "no questions asked".

Don't come the old "enforce the laws on the books" since the laws are
set up so that it is next to impossible to prosecute these people.
Anything which might prevent these sales are opposed on the basis that
they "infringe upon our rights."

What parenting advice would you give to those who have both small children and firearms in their household? That’s the dilemma that may now be facing North Carolina father Justin Carper. Carper is a church youth group leader and advice columnist. His unpaid column offering parenting advice appears in the Shelby Star, in Shelby, North Carolina. On Thursday, February 6, Carper’s three-year-old son shot his 17-month-old sister with Carper’s 9mm handgun.

This ‘parenting advice’ columnist didn’t think his three-year-old could find and fire his gun.

Carper told the Gaston Gazette that he kept his gun in a secret compartment atop his dresser. At least he thought it was secret. He was amazed that his three-year-old son could climb on a stool, get the gun, and pull the trigger. What is more amazing is that someone who writes a parenting advice column doesn’t seem to be aware that kids will find anything “hidden” that is not actually under lock and key. Justin Carper is probably aware of that now.

There's a video too. It seems the real occupation of Justin Carper is that of used car salesman. Is that a riot, or what? Christian, parental advice-giver and used car salesman.

I came upon this article which seems to illustrate very well the folly of passing laws which legislate the legality of something based on appearance. I really haven't paid much attention to what the law mandates since I cant ever see myself visiting the state, but this seems to pass muster legally though has no real effect on the function of the weapon.Shop owner Rich Sehlmeyer holds an AR-15 assault-style rifle with a compliant stock on Saturday, May 25, 2013, at The Gun Shop in Lake Luzerne, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

It might be the most divisive element of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's NY SAFE Act: an expanded ban on what the administration terms "assault-style" weapons, such as the Vietnam-era AR-15s that are wildly popular with gun enthusiasts.

But the ban is proving to be less than total. Gun dealers, with the help of machine shops and gunsmiths, are on the cusp of offering what they call NY SAFE-compliant AR-15s and other military-style rifles.

Prototypes for the new rifles have been on display at gun shops from western New York to the Adirondacks in recent weeks. And now a lawyer representing one shop says he has gotten what amounts to an OK from the state, in the form of a letter from a State Police lawyer confirming that AR-15-style guns should be legal as long as they lack the characteristics prohibited by the law.

"It's basically an AR-15 without the features," said James Tresmond, a western New York lawyer representing H&H Firearms, a Lackawanna gun shop that's seeking to sell such a rifle.

"People are champing at the bit" for the modified rifle, said Justin Reickart, who with his wife operates H&H.

He aims to offer an AR-15-style rifle with the pistol grip permanently removed, and without banned accessories such as a folding stock, a flash suppressor or a bayonet lug.

Police say the shooting happened when four young boys were playing in a residence after school without adult supervision. The boy who lived there pulled out a shotgun and displayed it to the others. A second grabbed the gun and it discharged, hitting the victim.

Captain Scott Engle says the juveniles immediately called for help and medics and police were called to the scene. They found the teen suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound to the chest. One of the other young men was performing CPR when they arrived.

Investigators said Wednesday a gun range videotape captured a woman's suicide after she apparently texted someone on her cellphone.

A 28-year-old Waterford Township woman, who has not been identified, shot herself once in the head with a nine millimeter handgun she had rented at the Accurate Gun Range in the 6500 block of Dixie Highway, according to a preliminary report from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

The woman had gone to the range about noon on Tuesday, rented the gun and fired off three boxes of ammunition on the practice range, deputies said. She was found lying on the floor by an employee and a range surveillance video reviewed by investigators showed she had been using her cellphone, apparently texting someone, when she set the phone down and put the handgun to her head and pulled the trigger.

A bill backed by the National Rifle Association that lawmakers said would add “common sense” to zero-tolerance policies for guns in public schools sailed through a House education panel on Wednesday.

The measure (PCB KTS 14-02) by House Judiciary Chairman Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, would prevent children from being disciplined for simulating a gun while playing or wearing clothes that depict firearms.

Baxley called the measure “the pop-tart bill” — a reference to a widely reported news story about a Maryland 7-year-old who was suspended from school last year for chewing his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun.

“Obviously we don’t want firearms brought to school in a backpack,” Baxley said. “But we were definitely having some over-reactions.”

According to national news reports, incidents have included punishing students for drawing a picture of a gun, using a finger as an imaginary gun while making the sound of a gun, owning a miniature gun on a keychain, owning a gun made of Legos and wearing a National Rifle Association T-shirt to school.

Rep. Karen Castor Dentel, a Maitland Democrat and a public-school teacher, said the zero-tolerance policies often prevent administrators from using their common sense “because their hands are tied. I support the bill so that people will be able to have that flexibility.”

A man entered a Double Springs church Sunday morning, shooting one person before turning the gun on himself, police say.

An emergency call reporting a shooting came in around 9:05 a.m. from the Double Springs Community Church located at the corner of Double Springs Road and Church Street, west of Cookeville.

The Putnam County SWAT team responded to the scene, entering the building to find one female with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and one male, the suspected shooter, dead.

The female victim was taken by ambulance to Cookeville Regional Medical Center where she was undergoing emergency surgery Sunday morning, according to Putnam County Sheriff David Andrews. Reportedly she made it through surgery and was still listed in critical condition.

“All we know at this time is that the man’s wife or ex-wife was inside the building with her sister at the time,” Andrews said before just noon Sunday. “We are still interviewing witnesses and working the crime scene at this time.”

It was believed the three were the only people in the church at the time, Andrews said.

The shooter, Tommy Meadows, 64, of Bloomington Springs, was reportedly carrying a handgun which was used in the shooting.

Nearly a year to the day after 20-year-old James Ballman was killed during an accidental shooting at a Hebron apartment, his family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the man responsible.Ballman was shot in the neck on Feb. 3, 2013, while at the residence of 23-year-old Cody Williams, according to the lawsuit. The suit says Ballman had recently purchased the gun and had unloaded it, but at some point in the evening, the gun was reloaded.“The defendant, Cody Williams, then obtained the gun, pointed it at (Ballman) when it suddenly discharged,” the lawsuit said.he lawsuit claims negligence by Williams, the landlords and owners of the apartment complex where the incident took place, and insurance companies responsible for covering the complex. Ballman’s mother, Lori Ballman, filed the suit Friday afternoon and is seeking more than $25,000 in damages for emotional distress and medical, funeral and burial expenses as well as any other damages. Williams was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, a third-degree felony, and using weapons while intoxicated, a first-degree misdemeanor, after entering no contest pleas in June. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

" I came upon this article and it piqued my interest because of your posts regarding people forgetting firearms in their carry-on and getting caught by the TSA.

Its interesting that at least in Texas, the mindset seems to be that if you've gotten a carry permit, you are showing intent to be a responsible person and without some evidence showing evil intent, its assumed that it was an unintended mistake.

I'm also a bit troubled though in regards to people "forgetting" where there firearm is. I have spent a good deal of my life in the Army and it was force fed constantly that weapons are always properly secured or under someone's direct supervision, be it a pistol, or a tank.

Another facet of this concern is my having children in the home. The only firearm/s that aren't locked up are in my possession. Someone with no children wouldn't need to maintain the same level of in-house security as I do."

The
lead Republican in the Minnesota House of Representatives acknowledged
Friday that he was involved in a gun-related dispute in Montana in
September that resulted in his arrest and felony charges against a
friend who was traveling with him.

According to the
charges filed by the Park County district attorney in Montana, House
Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, 40, of Crown, along with Daniel Benjamin
Weinzetl, 24, of Cambridge, had traveled to Livingston, Mont., on Sept. 7
to buy a vintage Ford Bronco.

Daudt got into an
argument with the seller that escalated, the records said. While Daudt
and the seller argued, Weinzetl went back and pulled Daudt’s black
handgun from the car and allegedly pointed it at the seller’s “entire
family, including the children,” according to court records.

Weinzetl
was charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and criminal
endangerment, all felonies. He posted $50,000 bail two days later and
was ordered to stay out of Montana with the exception of future court
hearings. He pleaded not guilty to all three counts in October. Daudt,
who is not named in the complaint, was not charged.

Previous offenses

According to Minnesota court records, Weinzetl, a construction worker, has landed in trouble before.

His
record shows multiple traffic offenses and he was found guilty in 2010
of assault on a police officer and obstructing the legal process, both
gross misdemeanors, following a March 2010 incident in which he punched a
man outside his home. When an Isanti County Sheriff’s deputy arrived at
the house to speak with Weinzetl and his brother, Weinzetl shoved and
punched the deputy, breaking his glasses and tearing his uniform. The
deputy reported that he tried unsuccessfully to use a Taser on Weinzetl.

According to a statement Daudt made to the media, via KMSP:

In
the statement, Daudt casts himself as a peacemaker in a tense
situation. He said the friend retrieved the gun without his knowledge
and stressed it was not fired. Daudt said the gun is owned by him,
though it is not known if he has a permit to carry a concealed weapon in
public. Daudt told KSTP that there were bullets in the magazine but not
the chamber.

Daudt reports driving to Montana with
the loaded gun under the front seat, and Daudt is a Concealed Carry
Permit holder. While Daudt denied it to KSTP, he WAS apparently arrested
in Montana, but not charged -- so far. His associate, who has been
charged with multiple felonies, does not have a CC Permit, apparently,
but would be eligible for one under MN law should he apply for one. The
complaint can be read here.

So.....what
did Daudt do wrong, and why does this reflect on Stand Your Ground
laws, something likely to be introduced or attempted to be introduced,
into the next session of the lege? And what does this incident show us
about the problems in our current relatively lax Concealed Carry Permit
laws?

First of all, multiple laws require that a
firearm be transported unloaded and separate from the ammunition, in a
locked container, and separate from the passenger compartment of the
vehicle. This is true of state law for Minnesota, North Dakota and
Montana law, and this is true of federal law. Holding a CC permit does
not excuse someone from properly transporting their firearm when they
are not carrying it.

2013 Minnesota Statutes

97B.045 TRANSPORTATION OF FIREARMS.

Subdivision 1.Restrictions.

A person may not transport a firearm in a motor vehicle unless the firearm is:

(1)
unloaded and in a gun case expressly made to contain a firearm, and the
case fully encloses the firearm by being zipped, snapped, buckled,
tied, or otherwise fastened, and without any portion of the firearm
exposed;

(2) unloaded and in the closed trunk of a motor vehicle; or

(3) a handgun carried in compliance with sections 624.714 and 624.715.

The
first reference in section (3) refers to transport without a CC permit
and is shown below; it is worth noting that Daudt was NOT transporting
his firearm for purposes of repair or target practice; this is included
here to illustrate that NO ONE may legally transport a loaded gun. It
is also included here, because people who hold CC permits are expected
to know the law. We should expect that to be especially true of our
legislators who write those laws.

2013 Minnesota Statutes

Subd. 9.Carrying pistols about one's premises or for purposes of repair, target practice.

A permit to carry is not required of a person:

(5)
to transport a pistol in a motor vehicle, snowmobile or boat if the
pistol is unloaded, contained in a closed and fastened case, gunbox, or
securely tied package.

But Daudt was NOT transporting
his firearm for target practice or repair across a relatively short
distance in Minnesota. Daudt was transporting a firearm across all or
parts of three states. THAT puts his transportation under the regulation
of the federal Firearm Owners Protection Act, specifically the Safe
Passage Provision, courtesy of Cornell Law:

- Interstate transportation of firearms

Notwithstanding
any other provision of any law or any rule or regulation of a State or
any political subdivision thereof, any person who is not otherwise
prohibited by this chapter from transporting, shipping, or receiving a
firearm shall be entitled to transport a firearm for any lawful purpose
from any place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm to
any other place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm if,
during such transportation the firearm is unloaded, and neither the
firearm nor any ammunition being transported is readily accessible or is
directly accessible from the passenger compartment of such transporting
vehicle: Provided, That in the case of a vehicle without a compartment
separate from the driver’s compartment the firearm or ammunition shall
be contained in a locked container other than the glove compartment or
console.

"IF, during such transportation THE
FIREARM IS UNLOADED, AND NEITHER the firearm NOR any ammunition being
transported is readily accessible" is the relevant part of the
law here, because clearly Daudt's firearm was in fact both loaded and
readily accessible, apparently during the entire trip.

THAT
was illegal, unsafe, and irresponsible, yet we are told over and over
again by the pro-gun crowd who want to carry their handguns everywhere
they go, that they are in fact law abiding, safe, and responsible.
Clearly they are not, as Mr. Daudt's behavior is not particularly
unusual, AND appears to have the support of his fellow MN GOP members in
the lege.

But the manner of transport, and allowing
his handgun to be easily accessed for an illegal purpose - to threaten a
man, his wife and children - is not the only objectionable behavior by
Minority Leader of the MN House of Representatives. That Kurt Daudt
also did not report the crime to authorities, but instead assisted his
friend to flee the state after committing what is an alleged felony is
also unethical, irresponsible, and apparently illegal. Daudt does not
deny providing his friend with the keys to a vehicle to enable him to
leave the state. This was presumably not only to help his friend, but
because leaving the state was convenient and expedient for Daudt,
regardless of flouting the law.

I don't claim to be an
attorney, nor do I play one on tv. But this is a common legal
definition for Accessory after the fact, which is a crime. Once again, thanks to Cornell Law:

Accessory after the fact

Definition

Someone who assists another 1) who has committed a felony,
2) after the person has committed the felony, 3) with knowledge that
the person committed the felony, and 4) with the intent to help the
person avoid arrest or punishment. An accessory after the fact may be
held liable for, inter alia, obstruction of justice.

We
have an instance where Daudt knew or reasonably should have known (as a
person instructed in the law to become a CC permit holder) that
threatening someone with a gun is a crime, and likely to be a felony.
He was present and a witness to the events, and therefore clearly knew
that this occurred. And he obviously knew that he was assisting his
friend to leave the state rather than to risk arrest and punishment.

As
a law maker, and as a responsible adult, he should have reported what
occurred, not taken off for the border. Instead he provided the means
for his associate to leave the state, or at least, attempt to leave the
state. Regardless of whether or not Daudt is charged in Montana, this
presents serious concerns about how law abiding and responsible he is --
or more precisely, is not.

That Daudt further
attempted to keep this incident from the public indicates he presumably
knew that this does not reflect well on his judgment, either as a law
maker, or as a CC permit holder who goes about armed. It does not
appear that Daudt made even a minimal attempt to comply with either
federal law or the state laws of Montana and North Dakota before
traveling across those states. That would seem to indicate a
fundamental disregard and disrespect for law generally, and for the laws
of other states specifically, which is NOT a desirable quality in the
Minority Leader of the MN House of Representatives. It reflects badly
on Minnesota.It is worth noting that the MN BCA website, re reciprocity of CC permits,
notes that MN does not have reciprocity with either NoDak or Montana,
and that it advises (but does not require) checking with other states
before travel - my emphasis added:

Permit to Carry Reciprocity

Minnesota
permit holders who plan to visit another state, and who also wish to
carry a concealed firearm while visiting that state,
are urged to contact that state before traveling. This will allow
Minnesota permit holders to determine all restrictions or prohibitions
regarding the carrying of concealed firearms in those states, as well as
their laws regarding firearms and weapons in general.Most
of these states have web pages dedicated to this subject. State
firearm laws and reciprocal agreements may change frequently, and are
also subject to court interpretation.

Beyond
the conduct of Kurt Daudt, it is likely that we will see a renewed
effort to pass some form of Stand Your Ground law in Minnesota from the
MN GOP members of the legislature.

Prohibitions for CC permits:
518B.01, subdivision 14; domestic abuse609.224, subdivision 3
Daudt's
associate, Weinzetl appears to qualify for a CC permit, in spite of a
gross misdemeanor assault in the 5th degree IF it occurs within 3 years
of a previous incident of violence, as his prior problems in this regard
occurred in 2010 - unless he is convicted of a felony or plea-bargains
down to a gross misdemeanor in Montana for this most recent brush with
the law.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in section 609.2242, subdivision 3,
paragraph (c), a person is not entitled to possess a pistol if the
person has been convicted after August 1, 1992, of assault in the fifth
degree if the offense was committed within three years of a previous
conviction under sections 609.221 to 609.224,
unless three years have elapsed from the date of conviction and, during
that time, the person has not been convicted of any other violation of
section 609.224.

(iv) 609.749; stalking
(v) 624.713; ineligible because of being a minor, drugs, mental illness, etc.
(vi) 624.719; not an illegal immigrant
(vii)
629.715, subdivision 2; under arrest for a crime of violence during
very narrowly limited criteria (out of state arrests do not appear to
apply among those criteria)
629.72, subdivision 2; summary of above domestic abuse, protection orders, etc.
and certain violations of federal gun laws

I
find it VERY concerning that someone who has demonstrated repeated
disregard for the law and the tendency towards violent actions and a
lack of responsible judgment, including assaulting a law enforcement
officer, still qualifies for a Minnesota CC permit, apparently even
after a felony arrest in another state.

Add to that the
evidence that in Stand Your Ground states, there is a lowering of the
standard for shooting another person from objective evidence of self
defense to subjective fear, and include in that the number of instances
where under SYG unarmed people are threatened and shot, and it is clear
that SYG is a problem, not a solution. There is no evidence that our CC
permit laws, expanded in the previous decade, have made us any safer,
or that CC permit holders are as safe, responsible and law abiding as
they claim. We have seen instances of CC permit holders engaging in
road rage shootings, and cases of children dying from firearms in the
homes of CC permit holders. Guns, as we have seen in the incident
involving Kurt Daudt's handgun, are too easily used to escalate
violence, instead of people resorting to other alternatives, including
leaving the conflict, or calling law enforcement, and those firearms
belonging to CC permit holders are not reliably secured from others.
Kurt Daudt is an excellent example of why we should not pass an SYG law
in Minnesota. States with more guns and more lax gun laws have more gun
deaths, gun injuries, and gun accidents than those that have more and
more stringent gun laws.

Note that this relates to the language of US Constitution Article I, Section 8, clause 15, which states:

The Congress shall have Power To...provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

This relates back to the Constitution's purpose to "provide for the common defence".

Now, most of the references to the Militia from this time period relate to that purpose rather than what "Second Amendment Supporters" would like to purport, which is private arms. Very little mention or thought is given to private arm in early congressional debates.

On the other hand, wouldn't there be some reference to how great it would be to have the highest deaths from firearms and the benefits of being able to shoot someone for no reason if the early Congress held a similar view to the Second Amendment (and Congress' purpose) as many who claim to support the Constitution, especially the Second Amendment, would claim?

Why are those statements only found from people who try to press the notion of "gun rights"?

A teenager described as a model student shot a teacher and a police officer dead and took more than 20 of his schoolmates hostage in a Moscow classroom on Monday, days before Russia hosts the Winter Olympics under tight security.

The suspect was disarmed and detained about an hour after the shootings after talking to his father, the owner of the two rifles with which he forced his way into the school in northern Moscow at midday.

Irina Yarovaya, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker who heads the security committee in the State Duma, put some blame on "propaganda of aggression", such as violent computer games, but also said access to guns should be tightened.

She said the punishment for legal gun owners whose negligence enabled others to get their hands on weapons was "infinitesimal". The maximum sentence for the offence is six months.

Duma international affairs committee head Alexei Pushkov suggested Russia had embraced U.S. culture with deadly effect.

"Moscow school shooting: American movies and domestic serials, full of violence, are producing results - now it is like the USA here," he tweeted. "Is this what we wanted?"

(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) W. Clark Aposhian, seen in this 2005 photo, has been charged with four misdemeanors, including domestic violence. Aposhian has taught concealed-carry classes for legislators, public officials and the governor and hundreds of other Utahns, but a conviction could cost him his right to own guns.The Salt Lake TribuneUtah’s foremost gun advocate and his ex-wife had a contentious divorce wrought with conflict, emotional distress and pain.

At times, Clark Aposhian may have been annoying and intimidating but, a judge ruled last week, he wasn’t dangerous.

Third District Judge Andrew Stone denied a protective order request from Aposhian’s ex-wife, Natalie Meyer, last Tuesday and ruled the woman has no reason to fear the gun lobbyist.

It’s a long-awaited victory for Aposhian, who has been embroiled in several legal disputes stemming from a Memorial Day incident in which he was accused of driving a 2.5-ton military vehicle onto his ex-wife’s driveway and threatening to run over her new husband and his car.

Aposhian still faces misdemeanor domestic violence charges in Holladay Justice Court, but his attorneys hope Stone’s ruling, which states there was no abuse or criminal trespassing on the Meyers’ property, will help them in fighting that case.

No physical violence • The judge dismissed this fear of physical abuse, noting her interactions with Aposhian had never escalated to physical violence in the past, and there was little evidence to show they were likely to in the future — two legal requirements of granting a protective order under Utah law.

You have to wonder if a guy who makes threats and does intimidation is really safe. Aren't these exactly the types who need to be disarmed BEFORE they escalate into out-and-out violent behavior? Is it reasonable to expect people like this to gradually calm down and not get worse over time?

A Moneta woman shot and killed her boyfriend Friday when he returned early and unannounced from a business trip and she mistook him for an intruder in their home, she told Franklin County sheriff’s deputies.

The woman was home alone Friday with her toddler son in the house she shared with her boyfriend, Herbert Aragon Jr., 37, in the 100 block of Peaks View Lane on The Waterfront golf course at Smith Mountain Lake, according to a sheriff’s office news release.She had just given her son a bath and noticed that the front door, which she had locked, was open, she told deputies. Afraid an intruder was in the house, she got her handgun and searched the house.Startled by a man, she fired the gun, she told deputies. The man, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was identified as Aragon, according to the news release.

Nicholas "Nicko" Tijerina exits the 139th District Court after watching Dustin Wesley Cook receive three years of supervised release after pleading no contest to criminal negligence charges Monday Feb. 4, 2014 at the 139th District Court in the Hidalgo County Courthouse in Edinburg. Cook accidentally, but negligible shot Edson Amaro and Nicholas Tijerina at Harwell Middle School when playing basketball outside the campus on Dec. 12, 2011. Photo by Gabe Hernandez/gabrielh@themonitor.com

Dustin Wesley Cook, 38, was spared jail time and will instead serve three years of supervised release after pleading no contest to criminal negligence charges during an emotional court hearing Monday morning.

Cook, an Edinburg marksman, was target shooting toward the school from about a mile away when he struck the boys Dec. 12, 2011. The gunshots left Nicholas “Nicko” Tijerina, then 13, paralyzed and Edson Amaro, then 14, with serious internal organ damage.

Nicko and his mother, who moved to Houston after the shooting, returned to face Cook in court with other family members. Edson, who still suffers ongoing physical problems from the shooting, woke up in too much pain to appear, said Assistant District Attorney Gracie Reyna.

Cook was remorseful as he met the Tijerinas for the first time before the courtroom and publicly apologized.

“I’ve spent the last two years praying for you to recover, as well as Edson,” he told Nicko. “I understand your anger and your frustration and I read about a year ago in the newspaper where you had mentioned (me not) reaching out. I tried since day one, but I couldn’t because of the case.

“If I could go back, 1,000 times, I would.”

In a statement emailed to the media after the hearing, Cook reiterated his apology but maintained that he had been neither reckless nor negligent in the shooting. The Tijerina and Amaro families both have separate civil lawsuits pending against him, seeking monetary damages.

He should go to jail for ten years for that stubborn refusal to admit his fault. How dare he maintain that he was neither reckless nor negligent?

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Florida in the trial of 47-year-old Michael Dunn, a software developer charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the November 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Jordan Davis outside a Jacksonville convenience store.

Authorities say an argument over loud music led to the shooting. Davis was parked in a vehicle with three friends outside the store. Dunn and his fiancé had just left a wedding reception and were heading back home when they stopped at the store and pulled up next to the sport utility vehicle that Davis was sitting in.

An argument began after Dunn told them to turn the music down, police said. One of Davis' friends turned the music down, but Davis then told him to turn it back up.

According to authorities, Dunn became enraged and he and Davis began arguing. One person walking out of the convenience store said he heard Dunn say, "You are not going to talk to me like that."

Dunn, who had a concealed weapons permit, pulled a 9 mm handgun from the glove compartment, according to an affidavit, and fired multiple shots into the SUV, striking Davis in the back and groin.

Dunn later told police he felt threatened. His attorney has said Dunn saw a gun and shot in self-defense, perhaps laying the ground work for a case under Florida's "stand your ground" law.

Charles Ingram and Robert Webster were neighbors inFlorida, but friends said the two older men had little love for each other and often quarreled. On a spring day in 2010, the two men, both gun enthusiasts who had state permits to carry concealed weapons, got into another argument across their lawns.

This time, police later said, both men pulled out their weapons. When Mr. Webster began approaching, Mr. Ingram raised his gun, as did Webster. Two shots rang out simultaneously, and both men fell. Webster died almost instantly, Ingram less than a month later.

That "Deadwood"-style neighborhood gunfight is one of 555 examples compiled by advocates of gun control detailing how the mere presence of legal guns can turn mundane moments into tragedies – sobering rebuttals against the estimated tens of thousands of times a year Americans brandish guns in self-defense to thwart crimes in progress.

After reported criminal activity occurring recently at the Kroger Shopping Center on Whitlock Avenue, Marietta resident Elizabeth Finch, who has a conceal and carry permit, loads her .45-caliber pistol before heading out of her vehicle to do some shopping. Finch is an NRA member and a leader in The Well Armed Woman chapter in Cobb County.Local news reports

An east Cobb woman has her sights set like a laser beam on making sure the women of Cobb are prepared to defend themselves.

A couple of recent reports of shoppers being victimized at a local grocery store has 38-year-old Elizabeth Finch, a self-employed National Rifle Association certified instructor, offering to teach women gun skills for their own safety.

On Jan. 24, a woman reportedly distracted a shopper at the Kroger on Whitlock Avenue while an accomplice pick-pocketed the woman’s purse.

Then, the following Monday evening, a teenage boy reportedly slapped the buttocks of another female shopper who was bent over to reach a low shelf at the same grocery store.

The woman was not treated medically, but was given a bag of frozen peas by the Kroger staff to numb her stinging backside.

Finch is the organizer for the local chapter of The Well Armed Woman, a national organization established to educate gun-owning women.

“It is really my passion that every woman can defend herself,” Finch said.

Had the two victims in these examples been armed, what would have happened? Should pick-pockets and teenagers like the one in this story be shot dead? Is that the message?

A standoff continues as of 3pm at the Traveler’s Inn on University
Parkway in Winston-Salem, NC. The WSPD has the area surrounded, including a rooftop sniper
and armored personnel vehicle, and are in contact with the suspect.

“These numbers reflect all transactions and the current status of permits, since the inception of the CCW program in Arizona on September 8, 1994,” azdps.gov‘s website informs above concealed carry stats revealed today. “Please note, these numbers do not reflect changes, such as a permit that was suspended and later reinstated.” Regardless, we’re looking at 212k permits in a state with some six million legal residents. Not a bad tally, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the total population. Then again, we are talking about a state bordering on Mexico, where drug cartel violence spills over like salsa out of a broken, overstuffed taco shell. And a state with Constitutional Carry. Make the jump for the demographic breakdown for the Copper State’s concealed carriers . . . [h/t AL]

Current Arizona Statistics

Statistics Last Updated: 2/2/2014 7:06:56 AM

Active Suspended Revoked

212086 3079 1155

It looks like about 3.5% of the overall population in Arizona has a concealed carry permit. When you consider that the population figure includes children and young people who are not eligible, you've got your 6% that we've seen in the past.

In addition to that, Constitutional Carry means that only those who want to take advantage of interstate reciprocity bother with the permit. So we're talking about a much higher percentage of the adult population carrying guns. The actual figure of people carrying guns in a given crowd would be, what, 10%, maybe 15%? (I'll have to go back and adjust my estimates concerning the Loughner shooting which were based on only 6%.)

The suspended and revoked numbers add up to a full 2% of the total permit holders. This is a good bit higher than the bogus numbers we keep hearing about in places like Florida, Texas and Minnesota. And considering that Arizona is one of the most gun-friendly and gun-tolerant states in the country, the percentage of concealed carry fuck-ups is quite high, as you would expect.

Someone is going to get the chance to beat the tar out of George Zimmerman, but who? Zimmerman, the egomaniac who shot and killed a 17 year old kid, in what he claimed was an act of self defense, will be taking part in a celebrity boxing match, on March 1st. Not surprisingly, Zimmerman said it was his own idea.

“Boxing isn’t new to me. It’s something I had picked up well before the incident and it’s something that I liked, I enjoyed, and I kept up with it and I was able to lose a tremendous amount of weight and get a healthy lifestyle.” (Source: Radar Online)

Celebrity boxing promotor Damon Feldman, who is arranging the fight, said that he received more than 7,500 offers within the first 14 hours after the fight was announced. “Most people want to see him (Zimmerman) get beat up,” he said, in an exclusive interview with HipHollywood.

If you try Googling something like "Gore's 2013 prediction", you'll come up with an ocean full of blogs sneeringly touting Gore's pronouncements that the Arctic would be ice free by 2013. What an idiot! What a lunatic! What a shill! What a propagandist! What an opportunistic manipulator!

But what you'll have a much harder time finding is his actual words. So let's take a look at them. Chances are you saw them here first:

Last September 21 (2007), as the Northern Hemisphere tilted away from the sun, scientists reported with unprecedented distress that the North Polar ice cap is "falling off a cliff." One study estimated that it could be completely gone during summer in less than 22 years. Another new study, to be presented by U.S. Navy researchers later this week, warns it could happen in as little as 7 years.

In case you're having struggles with the Mother Tongue, let's point out that there's a difference between "could" and "will"; between "one study estimated" and "without a doubt"; and between "in as little as 7 years" and "in at most 6 years". In their ever-mounting desperation for a Gore flub, the anti-sciencers also turned to a speech he made in 2009, in which he supposedly said that the arctic ice could be gone in 5 years. Even if that had been what he said, that would mean this year (2014) and as of this writing it's only January. But what he actually said was this:

Some of the models suggest that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap during some of the summer months will be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years.

Naturally they left out the part about how the wife and kid are in greater danger of death or injury be having a gun in the home. They didn't mention that the chance of using the gun to save the day is remote compared to the possibility that it will one day be misused.

Most gun owners make the stupidest decision of their lives in a fear-driven distorted attempt at making themselves and their families safer. One of the first ways these guns are misused is that 500,000 of them are stolen each year, year in and year out, mostly from private homes. Over the course of a few years, that millions of guns flowing into the criminal world, of which, the damage is incalculable.

The really sick part is that safe storage laws are seen as an infringement of rights. Even in cases in which someone is injured or killed with a gun that was accessible to kids, the gun-rights fanatics insist charges are inappropriate. When's someone's kid is killed the parent gun owner has suffered enough, they say.

No training requirements, no storage laws, anything goes with these guys. That's why I blame them for the rampant and unnecessary gun violence in the country.